Apparatus for cleaning wheat



J G. CHALMERS v APPARATUS FOR CLEANING WHEAT 7 Filed my 20. 1922 2 snowmen 1 a :32; J... M

f jg, qr mentor Patented Oct. 27, 1925.

llNlTED JJhMZE-S CHALMIERS, 0F MACON, GEGRGIA srenon on ONE-HALF T0 Monnm rnoun MILLS, or unseen, encnern, A couro'nnirmn'(monopole,

APPARATUS cnnnnms wnnar.

Application tiled July 20, 1 322. $eria1 No. 576,232.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, James G CHALMERS, a citizen of the Dominion 011- Canada, resid ing at Macon, in the county of Bibb and Stateof Georgia, have inventedcertain new and useful improvements inrxpparatus for Cleaning Wheat; and do herebydeclare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact descrij ition of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to wheat cleaning machines, and has for its object mainly to provide a simple, inexpensive and etlicient apparatus or machine of the character reterred to, which will clean the wheat by re .u coating of bran and all imp therefrom and separate the same and disc large the wheat in a thoroughly clean condition into a feed hopper or receptacle for delivery to an elevator.

Gther objects will appear from the following description.

The invention will first be hereinafter more particularly described, with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are to be taken as a part of this specification, and then pointed out in the claims at the end of the description.

In said drawings, Fig. l is a front elevation of wheat cleaning apparatus embodying my invention;

2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 2-0. of Fig. i;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

llig. l is a detail sectional View taken on the line 4 l of Fig. 1; and

5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of the scourer case and associated parts.

Referring tosaid drawings, in which the same reference letters are used to denote corresponcing parts in different views, the letters A, A and A denotehelical or spiral conveyors, each enclosed in a suitable casing preferably of tubular tor-m through which the wheat passes in a serpentine course to a suitable outlet a, which leads into a scourer case B, arranged underneath said conveyors. The wheat enters the first conveyor A through an inlet a, and is discharged therefrom through an outlet a into the next succeeding conveyor A through which it passes to an outlet 11 into the next conveyor A and from thence passes to. the outlet a? into and through a pipe or tube b leadingto the scourer case B.

1, he scourer case B is preferablyoit cylindrical form and contains suitable bearings for ahorizontal shaft C, which P s e ens i u in ly th r hr s sa shaft having finedthereon carrier flights or blat D andscourer "arms E," preferably a series of eacln the flights alternating with the sconrer arms. The flights are flat and arranged at an angle to the shaft, to adapt them to force the wheat toward the dis charge and of the case. The arms E have no conveying tendency,- but are adapted to stir up,rub and scour the wheat in such manner as to effectually remove the outer coating of bran and all crease dirt and impurities so that the wheat will be thoroughly cleaned by the time it reaches the discharge opening 6 in the case B, whichis kept normally closed by means of a weighted valve or swinging door F, the purpose of which is to retard the flow of wheat from the case in such manner as to produce any desired amount of friction as the wheat is forced toward the discharge end, as may be desirable intreating different kinds of wheat. The swinging door i has formed thereon or secured tlurseto co-incidentwith its pivotal support or hinge, an arm on which is secured by means or a set screw or other fastening a Weight f which may be adjusted along the arm f so as to increase or decrease the resistance encountered by the wheat as it reaches the discharge end of the. case and bears against said door, throughvwhich it passes into a chute G by which it is conducted and discharged by gravity into a draft leg 7t 01": an air chamber H, which is in communication with a rotary tan housed in a casing I, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings. After passing through the door F, the wheat slides downwardly and falls into a suitable receptacle or hopper K for delivery to an elevator, (not shown), while the lighterparticles of dust and impurities, together with the bran, are separated from the wheat as it enters the draft leg at or near the bottom or lower end the reof,'and are drawn upwardly by the'fan around and through a valve L, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The heavier material separated from the wheat and earned upwardly through the .process of cleaning wheat proceeds. lChe valve L opens inwardly in the direction of movement of the current of air, laden with bran and impurities, being; pivoted at one end, and may be adjusted by any suitable means such as shown for example, at Z Fl 3, and secured in different positions to 1nc'rease or decrease the size of the exit from the air chamber or fan case into an outlet pipe 72 leading to a dust collector. Above the swinging tip of the draft leg is placed a slide valve h to control the passage of air up through the draft leg, this valve being opened as desired to admit air from the outside, in case the draft is too strong, and vice versa. The letter M denotes. the main driving shaft which is provided with a pulley m for applying a belt m for driving said shaft from any suitable source of power. It has a gear wheel m thereon which may be connected by a Morse silent chain drive N with apinion 0 on a counter-shaft 0, whereby motion is imparted by said main shaft to said counter-shaft. Motion is also imparted from said main shaft to the fan shaft P by means of a belt Q passing over pulleys Q and p on said main shaft and fan shaft, respectively. i

In operation, the apparatus being set in motion a siaiall stream of water is introduced inthe conveyors and the wheat being fed through the inlet a, is caused to pass through the conveyors which mix the wheat and water, giving the water time to penetrate the outer coat of bran, so that it *ill separate from the inner coat, and as the wet wheat enters the scourer case B, it is subjected to a rubbing action by the scouring arms E and forced by the carrier flights or blades D toward the discharge end of the case and through the door F into the chute G which it enters in a thoroughly cleaned condition, and is discharged by gravity into a suitable receptacle or hopper for delivery to an elevator, while the bran and impurities are separated by suction from the clean wheat and carried upwardly through the draft leg h into and through the air cham ber where a separation of the screenings from the air and dust is effected and the screenings caused to fall by gravity into the down leg 72 from which the screenings are discharged, or into a suitable receptacle, while the dust-laden air is forced out into a dust collector. The cone-shaped form of the scouring arms, with enlargements or knobs on their free ends produces a better scouring action than straight arms, having the effect of disturbing the natural order of things in the mass of wheat, breaking up clusters or lumps and rubbing wheat against wheat with a reeling action, without crushing or injuring individual grains, thus effectually removing the outer coating of bran andsthe impurities, and leaving the wheat in a highly polished state ready for the break rolls. The iii 'hts gradually convey the wheat through the scouring cylinder against the pressure of the mass of wheat on the weighted door, the pressure of which ma y be varied by adjusting the wei ht so as to increase or de crease the resistance encountered by the cleaned wheat in escapin from the cylinder, thereby increasing or decreasing the frictional contact between the grains of wheat and between the wheat and scouring arms.

it will be understood of course that various changes may be made in the details and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention. For example, while the alternate arrangement of carrier flights and scouring arms, substantially as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, the flights extending substantially at right angles to adjacent arms on either side, produces a better scouring action than to have them all arranged in a straight row on the shaft, and does better work than a less number of scouring arms, other arrangements and other forms may be employed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is l. A wheat cleaning apparatus, compris ing means for dampening and conveying wheat in a serpentine course to a scourer case, said means comprising spiral conveyors enclosed in casings adapted to contain water, and said scourer case having a shaft journaled therein carrying a series of revolving scouring arms and carrier flights between said arms, whereby the outer coating of bran and all crease dirt and impurities are ren'ioved from the wheat and the latter forced toward the discharge end of the scourer case in a thoroughly cleaned condition, and means at the discharge end of said scourer-case, including an exhaust fan and associated parts, whereby the bran and impin-ities are separated from the cleaned wheat, and means whereby the air and dust are separated from the heavier material or screenings and the latter discharget into a suitable receptacle while the air and dust are forced out or into a dust collector.

In a wheat cleaning apparatus, means lIiU for scouring and removing the outer coating of bran and crease dirt or other impurities from the wheat, comprising a cylindrical. casing, a shaft journaled in said casing and having fixed thereon a series of scourer arms and carrier flights alt rnating with said arms, said scourer arn'is' having no conveying tendency but adapted to remove from the Wheat the outer coating of bran and crease dirt while the carrier tlights are adapt: l to force the wheat toward the discharge end of the casing, and means for separating the cleaned wheat from the bran and impurities, together witl means for separating the heavier particles or screenings from the air and dust and forcing the dust-laden air into a dii'st collector, I i

3. In a wheat cleaning apparatus, means for securing and removing the outer coat ng of bran and cerase dirt or other impu: ties from the wheat, comprising a cylindrical i casing, a shaft journaled in said casing and l'i'aving fixed tliiereon a series of scou'rer arms and carrier flights alternating with said arms, said scourer arms having no conveying tendency but adapted to remove from the wheat the outer coating of bran and crease dirt while the carrier flights are adapted to force the wheat toward the discharge end of the casing, means for varying the resistance encountered by the wheat as it is forced toward the discharge end of the cats ing, and means for separating the cleaned wheat from the bran and impurities, together with means for separating the heavier particles or screenings from the air and dust and forcing the dust-laden air into a dust collector.

4. In a wheat cleaning apparatus, means for scouring and removing the outer coating of bran and crease dirt from the wheat, comprising a cylindrical casing, a shaft journaled in said casing having lined thereon a series scourer arms and carrier flights alternating with said arms, said scourer arms having no conveying tendency but adapted to remove the outer coating of bran and crease dirt from the wheat while the carrier flights are adapted to force the wheat toward the discharge end of the casing and aid in the cleaning process, means at the de livery end of the scourer-case for exerting a variable resistance to the passage of the Wheat theretln'ongh, and means for separating the cleaned wheat from the bran, dust and impurities, the latter means comprising a rotary fan adapted by suction to separate the bran and impurities from the wheat and allow the lat ter to descend by gravity into a suitable receptacle, and means whereby the screenings are separated by gravity from the dust and air and the dust-laden air forced out into a dust collector, together with means for intermittently discharging or forward and back course, said casings being adapted to contain water, and a cleaning device into which the wheat is dis charged from said conveyors, said device comprising a cylindrical casing having a shaft journaled therein in the al line thereof, said she ft having'a series of radial arms secured thereon for rnbbing'and sconring the wheat inits passage through said casingbut nnadapted to exert any conveying tendency; said arms being retail and tapering and decreasing in cross-sectional area toward but enlar ed at their freeends, and a series of carri flights alternating with said arms and erztending substantially at right angles thereto; said flights having flat surfaces inclined at an angle to said shaft and adapted to force the wheat toward the discharge end of the casing.

6. In an apparatus for cleaning wheat, meansfor wetting and. conveying the wheat to a cleaning device, comprising a plurality of spiral conveyors enclosed in tulinilar liquid containing casings tl rough which the wheat is caused to pass successively in a serpentine or forward and back coarse, and a cleaning device into which the Wheat is discharged from the last of said conveyors, said device comprising an oblong casing having a shaft jonrnaled therein in the axial line thereof, said shaft having a series of radially projecting round and tapering arms with ball-shaped ends adapted to stir, rub and scour the wheat as it is forced through said casing but nnadapted to exert any conveying tendency, and a series of carrier flights alternating with said arms; said flights projecting substantially at right angles to said arms and having flat oppositely inclined surfaces and adapted to force the wheat toward the discl'iar e end of the casing. p

7. In an apparatus for cleaning wheat, a cylindrical casing, a shaft extending through said casing in the axial line thereof and carrying a series of radially projecting carrier flights, and a seies of radially projecting rubbing and securing arms fixed on said shaft and alternating with said carrier flights, said arms having enlarged and rounded inner end portions andt'a'p'ering toward their free ends, said free ends being enlarged and rounded and arranged in close proximity to the inner surface of the cylinder, and said flights being flatand arranged at an angle to the shaft so as to force the material toward the discharge end of the casing.

8. Means for wetting wheat and delivering it to a cleaning device, comprising spiral conveyors enclosed in casings adapted to contain water, in combination with a cleaning device comprising casing containing a shaft carrying a series of radially projecting sconrer arms and radially projecting carrier flights alternating with said arms, said flights being and inclined at an angle to said shaft and adapted to force the material toward the discharge end of the casing, and said arms being round and taporing toward their free ends which are slightly enlarged, whereby they are adapted to rub and scour the wheat without effecting onward movement, a discharge opening at one end of said casing and a door closing said opening having a weight acting tnereon for ya the resistance enconntered by the material as it is forced by said flights toward said opening.

9. An apparatus of the character described comprising water-containing casings enclosi spiral conveyors by which the grain is moved back and forth through said casings and delivered to a cleaning device; said cleaning device comprising an oblong casing having therein a shaft carrying a series of sconrer arms and carrier flights arranged between said arms; said flights projecting from said shaft substantially at right angles to said arms and having flat inclined surfaces, whereby they are adapted to force the grain toward the discharge end of the casing, said arms being round and tapering toward their free ends, which are of ball-shaped form, whereby they are adapted to stir, rub and scour the grain as it is moved forward by said flights; said casing having a discharge opening at its elivery end, and means for yieldingly closg said opening.

10. An apparatus of the character described comprising a Series of casings adapted to contain water, the uppermost one in the series having a wheat inlet at one end and the lowermost one having a wheat outlet at the end thereof remote from said inlet, spiral conveyors in said casings whereby the wheatis forced therethrough in serpentine course from said inlet to said outlet, a scourer-case arranged below said conveyor casings into which the wetted wheat is discharged, a shaft journaled in said case carrying a series of radially projecting arms unadapted to exert any conveying tendency, and a series of radially projecting carrier flights alternating with said arms; said flights being flat-faced and arranged at an angle to the shaft, so as to adapt them to force the material toward the discharge end of the scourer-case while said arms stir, rub and scour the wheat, and variable pressure-resisting means at the dc livery end of the scourer-case for retarding the flow of wheat therethrongh and in creasing the friction between the grains of wheat and between the wheat and the stirrer arms and flights.

1. The combination, in a wheat cleani apparatus, of a series of water-containing casings having revolubly fitted therein 2 s casing and an outlet at the opposite end of the lowermost casing, a scourer-case arr ed below said series of casings and connected by a down spout with said outlet, a shaft journaled in said case carrying a series of radially projecting scourer arms and a series of radially projecting carrier flights alternating with said arms; said flights being flat faced and arranged at an angle the shaft, and said arms being rounded and tapering toward their free ends and having no conveying tendency but adapted to stir up, rub and scour the wheat as it moved forward by said flights.

12. The combination with a wheat cleaning device of means for separating the cleaned wheat from the bran, dust and impurities, and means for separating the heavier particles or screenings from the bran and dust-laden air, comprising an air chamber having a suction fan therein, a draft leg connecting said chamber with said cleaning device so that the cleaned wheat is discharged by gravity into said draft leg against an ascending current of air while the bran, dust and impurities are drawn up into said air chamber; said chamber having a depending leg into which the heavier particles or screenings are discharged by gravity, and a passage controlled by a nonreturn valve through which the bran and dust-laden air are drawn while the screenings fall into said depending leg, the latter being provided with a discharge outlet and a valve for closing said outlet, the pressure of accumulated screenings being adapted to open said valve intermittently and permit the screenings to be discharged.

In testimony whereof I atiix my signature.

JAMES GEORGE CHALMERS.

cries of spiral conveyors, an inlet be-- mg provided at one end of the uppermost 

